So this is where all the fun starts. A simple errand, buying beer made in Belgium in Tokyo, begins. The beer is for ex-GIA secret agent, and may very well decided if I make a good first impression, or if I get a good old-fashioned ear-punch. The ticket is a mere 160 yen, the same fare as to Ikebukoro.

Ah, finally. Out of Mejiro station (its only exit) you make a left and walk... The beer store is on the left... Apparently the 5 weeks since my last and only trip to this land of teh beers had dulled my memories on how to get there. So I walk and search for it. 5 minutes later, I turn around, thinking, "Ha!, I just didn:t look hard enough." ...Then I:m back at the station. Oh, where are you, Tanakaya?!

Then it dawns on me that it might be closed, like this. With the steel shutters down and waiting for 6pm to roll around. Some stores do that. Like video rental stores and a few restaurants. It was only 4:30, so I ducked into the McDonalds next to here and got me some bacon-lettuce burgers.

So with a frown I popped 150 yen into the ticket machine and began my trip to Shinjuku. I had an interview at 6 and couldn:t be late. Also seen is the 160 yen, in coins, I will spend going from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro. 310 yen spent, and no beer. Things do not bode well for me, no sir...

If you were like me and didn:t put one and one together at first, then YEAH this was the store front of Tanakaya. "Closed Wednesdays," it reads. See, that:s how my luck goes sometimes. A one-in-seven chance of being closed, and I lucked out! Bring on the ear-punching!

Taking this picture is just something I:ve always wanted to do. Ever since my first encounter with the cancerous growth known as Shinjuku Station. Inside the yellow box 3 exits are pointed to. At the top we got South Exit, bottom-left is South-East Exit, and bottom right is New South Exit. Were two south-ish exits not enough for you people?!?!?1

Oh, yeah. And it was raining that day. But still, you take the good weather with the bad in this country.

WEATHER ME  MORE!!

AGAIN, another ticket purchased. While it isn:t the last one of the evening, it still is worth mentioning because it:s another 150 yen OUT OF MY POCKET. The sole remaining ticket not pictured or mentioned here (until now) is the ticket from Ikebukuro back to Shibuya, which is 160 yen. Do teh math, people!

!

And see, sometimes I DO have money. Three THOUSAND yen!!! It:s like a million dollars to me. Perfectly good money, it is. Money for beer... Ah, well, I:ll get you next time, brew. Neeeeext tiiiiiiiiiiiiime! (shake fist in anger and contempt)

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Twas a very eventful Wednesday. I had an interview, and more importantly, a date with destiny. My mortal enemy, my nemesis, the world-renown ex-GIA assassin Drew was coming into Tokyo that fateful night. Originally the plan was for me to possibly avoid an ear-punching by presenting him with a beer. Sadly, had the store been not closed it wouldn:t have mattered.

So things didn:t work out at all with this indie. Man, seriously this is the most depressing indie I have done to date. It wasn:t a good day. Or a cheap day. Or even a sunny day. That and uploading, writing this page took longer that a good beard growth.

And yet I want to do MORE of these! (I got about 3 stored on teh cell phone... <--THREAT)

PEACE!!